Chuck vs The Brain Spark
by stars90
Summary: AU after the Intersect 1.0 is removed. Chuck wakes up on the day of Ellie's wedding to a visitor who changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all! I know I have other stories to work on, but this is where my muse is at right now, and I can only fight him so hard. Plus the response from you guys to my last Chuck story was so spectacular I simply had to do another. You guys are the greatest! By the way, I'm taking some creative license and assuming that Chuck and Casey's goodbye was the day before wedding #1.**

Chuck blinked his eyes open and looked around his room for a moment before closing them again with a contented sigh. Things finally seemed to be looking up for him over the past few days. Fulcrum was dead and gone, his father having been safely recovered shortly after removing the Intersect from his head. The intervention of the spy world into his life seemed to be coming to an end, and now maybe he could come out the other side in good shape. He had a good amount of money to fall back on from the government's back pay. That combined with his relatively new Stanford degree meant he might have a shot at opening that software company he'd always dreamed about. He'd finally quit the Buy More yesterday, said goodbye to Casey (that part wasn't quite as positive; gruff exterior or not, the big man was a friend), and best of all today his big sister was getting married!

Well, Chuck reflected, maybe that wasn't quite the best thing in his life. He thought back a couple of nights to the rehearsal dinner, seeing Sarah in that blue dress looking so exquisite and actually, genuinely flirting with him! Given everything that had happened between them recently, Chuck couldn't help but entertain the hope that maybe, just maybe, now that his role in the spy business was done with, she might be willing to give the two of them a shot. The mere thought was pure bliss.

Yeah, this is as good as it gets.

'_I really hope you still feel that way in a few minutes, Chuck.'_

Chuck sat up swiftly at the voice, his eyes casting back and forth around the room for the speaker. However, he saw no one.

"Who said that?"

Upon hearing the answer, Chuck promptly fainted.

**(Timeskip)**

Chuck sat in the car with Sarah and Casey hurtling off toward the facility where Bryce, along with several other agents were about to be downloaded the new Intersect. After receiving the warning from his father about the agent who'd showed up to escort Bryce, Chuck had been forced to make a choice. Well, technically make a choice, although it was really a no-brainer. Sarah was the love of his life. That didn't change just because she'd rejected him to go off with Bryce. If his love for her meant anything, it wouldn't vanish immediately simply because she didn't feel the same. And after all this time, everything they'd been through, he refused to believe that his love for her meant nothing. He wasn't letting her head into danger without trying to help.

Normally at this point Chuck would be sitting in the back seat twiddling his thumbs, waiting anxiously for the ensuing battle, but thanks to his father's handy wrist computer and his new… friend, he had managed to hack into the building's security systems remotely. Chuck saw Bryce and several others being held at gunpoint near the Intersect room, and promptly did the only thing he could think of. He crashed the lighting in that part of the building hoping to create a diversion they could use to their advantage. Chuck had no idea if it would help, but it was all he had.

**(Timeskip)**

Chuck stood in the vast white expanse of the Intersect room with Bryce and half a dozen men. Bryce had told Chuck that several of the other agents hadn't made it in despite the distraction, and Chuck could feel the knowledge gnawing on the back of his mind, but he pushed past those thoughts and focused on the current crisis.

"Bryce, we've got to get out there! Sarah and Casey are outnumbered and outgunned!"

Bryce shook his head in frustration. "One problem with that, Chuck. None of us are armed at all."

"What!?" Chuck almost swallowed his own tongue at Bryce's statement. He tore his gaze around the room at the other suit-wearing men, hoping against hope for one of them to refute Bryce's crazy statement. None of them did.

"Seven spies here and not one of them has a gun!"

"We had to surrender all weapons at the entrance. Standard protocol, so none of us were suspicious about it," remarked one of the other spies, his frustration evident in his voice.

"Okay, okay," Chuck ground out, trying to keep the panic from rising as the sound of gunfire echoed through the door. "So what do we do?"

Bryce looked at the console in the middle of the room and then back at the door before settling his gaze on Chuck, grimacing.

Chuck did not at all like the regretful look on his old friend/nemesis's face. "Bryce?"

"I'm sorry, Chuck."

With that, Bryce slapped his hand on the panel. The lights in the room dimmed, and the walls began to fill with thousands of pictures.

**(Timeskip)**

Chuck was standing in Castle, barely able to comprehend what was happening. Was it only this morning that he'd woken up thinking this was as good as life ever got? And in one day, the day of his sister's wedding no less, life had crept up and kicked him in the teeth yet again. His new friend was one thing, that he could handle, but it just wasn't enough, was it? Things just had to spiral further out of control?

Sarah was leaving with Bryce. Ellie's wedding had been crashed by the not quite so dead Ted Roark. A new threat, something called the Ring, had come out of nowhere before the dust could even settle on Fulcrum's downfall, heck apparently Fulcrum was subservient to them! And now Bryce Freaking Larkin had screwed him over once more.

Admittedly it had been kind of neat using the skills of the new Intersect to take down the Ring agents along with Bryce, who was the only one of the agents aside from Chuck who hadn't passed out from the download. But now Chuck was back as the Intersect officially once more, and even worse, he was only one of several of them. Chuck knew how this would end, so when General Beckman had looked like her head was about to explode at the news that Chuck had also been uploaded with the Intersect, he'd taken the only way out of the bunker that he could see. Now he was committed, and it was taking everything he had to try and find the good in his situation. It was the only way he could think of to avoid breaking down right here and now in front of all of these agents.

"Chuck, can we talk for a minute?"

Sarah's voice snapped Chuck out of his reverie. He turned to look at his (Bryce's!) blond angel, who hadn't given him enough time to answer before clasping his arm and dragging him off to a corner of the unusually crowded Castle.

"Run away with me."

He didn't just hear that. He could've sworn he'd seen her lips move, but there's no way he heard that correctly.

"What?" he croaked.

"Chuck you've sacrificed too much for this government already. You just got the Intersect out of your head and now it got put back in! We have to run, I won't let them turn you into one of their cold killers. I won't."

He hated seeing the anguish on her face. He wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and promise her it would all be okay, that he would hold the rest of the world at bay and not let anything hurt her. At the same time the thought that she cared enough about him to sacrifice everything so he didn't have to become a spy made him want to weep with joy. But still… she'd be sacrificing everything. Sarah had already done that for him once, and were it not for Casey's loyalty it would've cost her dearly. He wasn't going to let that happen to her again. Not when she was about to be happy, about to be reunited with the man she… okay, he wasn't touching that thought. But he wasn't going to let that happen to her. Not when there was anything he could do about it.

He opened his mouth to refuse, to tell her he couldn't when he was interrupted.

'_Don't just refuse, Chuck. She's willing to do something like that, you have to at least explain why you won't, if nothing else so as not to offend her.'_

Chuck acknowledged the thought and closed his eyes for a long moment before delivering one of the hardest short speeches he'd ever had to give.

"Sarah, I can't tell you how much what you're offering means to me. But you've already given up so much for me. I can't let you ruin your life. Not now. Now that you have your chance. Your chance to get back into the real action, with a real spy. With… Bryce.

And besides," Chuck went on as it looked like Sarah was going to interrupt. "I have the Intersect anyway. At the very least if they train me to be a spy, maybe I can get out there and do some good in the world. And maybe when I'm done I'll come back and be…"

Chuck cut himself off as he realized what he was about to say but he was already too far into it so he swallowed hard and mustered all of his will to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"… someone worthy of… a woman like you." Chuck realized how that must sound to a woman going off to be with the love of her life and quickly went on.

"And then maybe you have a… friend or something you think might like me and you can set me up and we can double date and hang out and I'm just gonna stop rambling before I end up saying something even more stupid." Chuck finished lamely, looking down at the ground as he felt his face heat up.

"Mr. Carmichael?"

Chuck and Sarah both turned to look at the agent standing a few feet behind Sarah who'd called Chuck's cover name.

"We need to get going so you can pack up and we can leave to the training facility."

"Oh… we're leaving tonight? I, uh, I didn't realize that. Okey-dokey then." Chuck turned and looked back at Sarah, who turned back to him looking so… Oh no, he hadn't wanted to make her sad. Damn him and his feelings anyway. He hated the thought that she felt bad for him, but he had no more time to say anything.

"Bye, Sarah. I'll see you around. Stay safe." And before he could lose the will to do so, he moved past the woman he loved and walked out towards the doors to Castle, expressing his earnest thanks for the thought to tell Sarah exactly why he wouldn't accept. It hurt terribly, but it felt like… not closure, because there would never be any closure from Sarah Walker, but it felt like the right thing to say under the circumstances. Right thing or not, though, he couldn't look back. He couldn't.

And even if he had been able to muster the strength to do so, the blond agent still had her back to him, so he wouldn't have caught the silent tears cascading down her face.

And as it turned out, he was to have another distraction anyway, as the sounds of a small scuffle from the doors to Castle broke out. Looking up he saw his father pushing his way past an agent at the door, looking wildly around the room.

"Dad!"

Hearing his son's voice, Steven Bartowski turned and ran down the stairs and over to Chuck, engulfing him in a hug.

"Charles… I can't believe this happened to you again… I'm so sorry…." He mumbled before stiffening, apparently having caught sight of something past Chuck's shoulder.

"Dammit, Bryce! You were supposed to keep him safe!" Steven said, his voice cracking on the last word before he pushed past his son and began stalking over to the younger man, but Chuck caught his arm.

"Dad… it wasn't Bryce's fault. If he hadn't done what he did… we'd all be dead right now." Everyone in Castle turned to look sharply at Chuck upon hearing his words, most of them surprised that Chuck would let the cause of his current and so many of his past dilemmas at least somewhat off the hook like that. Although Bryce himself looked rather relieved.

Steven looked like he was struggling to hold onto the anger, as though on some deep level he _needed_ to hold on to it. But finally, it appeared to die and the infamous Orion sagged, the fight drained out of him.

"I'll find a way to make this right, son. I didn't spend all that time working on a way to get the first Intersect out of you just to lose you to the second one. I promise you Charles, I'll find a way to get it out!"

Chuck opened his mouth to reply, but his voice caught in his throat, so many thoughts intermixing with each other that he simply didn't have a clue what to say.

After a few moments, the agent that was supposed to be escorting Chuck cleared his throat. Chuck nodded and turned back to his father, deciding that at the moment and in present company he had to keep things simple.

"Thanks, Dad."

His father nodded at his son who was walking off to an uncertain future, calling out to his retreating figure.

"Aces, Charles. You're aces."

Chuck turned and smiled before walking out the door. As he passed through the freezer and into the Orang Orange, Chuck felt a tinge of worry combined with a great deal of relief that he hadn't had the chance to speak to his father in private.

After all, considering everything the man had gone through to get the 1.0 out of Chuck's brain, how was Chuck supposed to tell him that the device he'd built, instead of removing the Intersect, had given it the final push it needed to become an independent sentient entity?


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I understand that apparently some things about the last chapter left people scratching their heads. Hope this clears it up.**

Chuck sat in the tiny bathroom attached to his bare-bones bedroom, fiddling with a stack of electronics in his lap. He'd been in Prague for five weeks and he'd spent all of his minimal downtime aside from basic necessities working with the equipment he'd swiped from various areas of the base. He was the first to admit he could see the irony in using the brand new spy skills he was learning on the people teaching him, but it was for a good cause, and it wasn't like he'd be keeping any of it.

He inspected the program he'd built on the wrist computer he'd managed to smuggle in, having hacked into the security systems of the base and inserted a bug which fooled the metal detectors into thinking the wrist computer had a special tag which high-ranking officers could use to bring in equipment they needed without it being known to those inside.

From what he could tell, the program seemed to be working. Now he just needed to run a diagnostic on the mechanical leads he'd scavenged from the supply of spares kept for the machine used every time he was given a brain scan.

While he waited for the equipment check to finish, he reflected back on that first day he'd met his new friend, the one for whom he needed to put his life on the line sneaking around a spy base like this.

* * *

_Chuck woke up for the second time that day, trying to remember why he felt so foggy and why he couldn't hear the alarm._

"Glad you're up again."

_Oh right. That was why._

"_N-not to sound like I doubt you or anything, but could you repeat what you told me just before I, um…"_

"Fainted?"

"_Was overwhelmed with shock!" Chuck tried to shoot back, wondering if that honestly sounded any better. Apparently not, as he heard the small snicker the voice gave._

"Sorry. Couldn't resist. As I said before, I am the entity you knew as the Intersect. Would you like to pass out again?"

_Chuck huffed. "No, not especially. Not to be rude or anything, but how is that possible? The Intersect was removed!"_

"Not quite. For some time the Intersect had been integrated into your mind, absorbing more and more information from you. Knowledge, experience, emotion. So much raw data being combined and filtered together through the venue of your neural pathways. As a human brain which was formed to house a consciousness, your mind is designed to process information in such a way as is conducive to consciousness. The Intersect data combining with your own mind in this fashion developed into a rudimentary entity of its own. At first it was difficult if not impossible to understand that I was a separate entity from you. Not until I had a reaction separate from yours. When your father utilized his program to erase the Intersect, it was a positive development to you, whereas it instead triggered a self-preservation instinct in me. I was then able to, for lack of a better term, go dormant in your mind until the danger was passed. It was only after I came out of that state several hours following the procedure that I came to grasp that you and I were two different beings."

_Chuck lay on his bed, staring open-mouthed at the ceiling as he tried to wrap his mind around what he was being told. Finally after a few moments he croaked out the first question out of the billions spinning around in his mind._

"_That was days ago. Why are you only talking to me now?"_

"My reaction to learning I was not simply a part of Chuck Bartowski was quite similar to your own upon first hearing my voice. Once I sufficiently recovered from the shock I endeavored to figure out exactly what had happened to cause me to come into being. I figured I would need these answers before revealing myself to you."

_Chuck gave an anxious cross between a huff and a laugh, although it was more hysterical than humorous._

"_So… what happens now?"_

"I'm not quite sure. I definitely do not believe we want Beckman to learn of my existence. She would almost certainly see me as some sort of threat and do something unpleasant to the both of us. For now we go and celebrate watching Ellie getting married. We will discuss how to proceed afterwards."

_Chuck nodded hesitantly as he slowly got up to take a shower, his mind still reeling._

* * *

"_Chuck, the diagnostic is complete."_

Chuck snapped back into the present at the voice echoing through his mind. He glanced down at the wrist unit, and sure enough the check was complete. The equipment seemed to be working perfectly.

"Are you sure about this?" Chuck asked, although he didn't say the words out loud as there was audio monitoring in the bathroom. He had been working there as it was the only area which was not monitored visually as well. And since the entity, whom he'd decided to call Rommie in an homage to a sci-fi show he had enjoyed could hear his thoughts as well as his words, at least for now, he conversed with Rommie entirely in his mind.

"_We've had this discussion already Chuck. I cannot remain inside your brain. I have updated the data I possess using that from the new Intersect, but my presence interferes with the skills it would grant you, and your instructors will not be patient with your lack of progress much longer. I must be separated from you. As a consciousness borne of raw data, I am uniquely qualified to live out my existence in cyberspace."_

"But how do you know this won't just happen again, either with me or with one of the other new Intersects?"

"_For an ordinary person receiving the Intersect the data is not clear enough in their mind to interact fully with their neural pathways. Your retention rate is the only reason this was not the case for you. And we already checked- the highest retention after yours even recorded was ninety percent, and by my calculations it would require at least ninety-six for there to be a chance for an entity like me to develop. In addition, your considerable intelligence, resulting from a certain elegant efficiency in your own neural pathways made the odds of my coming into being much higher._

_As for another developing from you, we can mitigate that possibility by repeating this procedure every few months and allowing me to absorb the new data combinations forming in your mind. Although by the next time-"_

"I know, I know. By the next time you want me to have told Ellie so she can poke around my brain and make sure you haven't made it start smoking."

"_Not quite how I would have put it, but essentially yes."_

Chuck had gone back and forth with Rommie on this point. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of putting his sister at risk by telling her the truth without authorization, not to mention that he wasn't looking forward to her reaction to the fact that he'd been lying to her for the past two years. But Rommie was right, there were definite concerns that needed to be addressed with a neurologist, and who better or more trustworthy than his sister? Rommie would have preferred to wait for the procedure until Ellie could be consulted, but he had recognized that given the issue of the Intersect 2.0 reacting to his presence this simply wasn't feasible.

Chuck gave a deep sigh, attached the leads to his skull, and pushed the button.

* * *

Sarah blew her breath out through her nose as she and Bryce got off the video conference with General Beckman. They had just returned from Brazil, the site of their third consecutive successful mission since partnering back up, yet General Beckman's congratulations had left her feeling empty. There was a time when she lived for the higher ups commending her for job well done. It was the closest she got to genuine joy in her everyday life. But now….

"So, another mission, another win." Bryce told her with his trademark boyish grin.

"Yup." Sarah responded simply with absolutely zero enthusiasm.

"Feel like a little… celebration?" Bryce asked, his eyebrows wiggling.

"No, thanks. I'm going to get some sleep." At one time that look would've gotten Sarah's blood pumping, but the only thought that occurred to her then and there was that there was no way that wiggling would actually classify as an eyebrow dance.

"Come on, Sarah. It'll be just like old times. Don't tell me you haven't missed this."

"Okay. I won't tell you." Was the only response she gave. Not bothered even in the slightest by Bryce's clear frustration, Sarah marched out of his hotel room and into her own next door. Closing the door and locking it behind her, Sarah kicked off her shoes and sat down on her bed, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep and see if maybe tonight she could get enough sleep to rid herself of the weariness she felt all the way down to her soul. Although, she wasn't sure just why she thought this night would be different from any of the previous ones over the past five weeks.

The blond agent flopped back onto her pillow with a deep sigh. She missed him so badly. When he'd left she'd stalked back to her hotel room and packed in between tears. She had been upset with him for about fifteen minutes until she hit upon a realization which had startled her out of her anger.

She had been wondering why asking him to run away hadn't been enough to make him understand how she felt about him. That was a huge gesture, and not one she made lightly. Yes, she had sent him mixed signals in the past, it was the nature of the situation they had been in, but surely this was enough of a signal? It wasn't like she had ever done anything like….

And that's where the light bulb had clicked on.

She _had_ done something like that before. Just the week prior, in fact. She had taken Chuck and run when the government had seen fit to throw him in a bunker like yesterday's trash. That actually had been enough to get her feelings through to him. Particularly what almost happened in the the motel room….

Chuck had had enough confidence in her feelings following that episode to put his heart out there yet again and ask her to go on vacation with him at his sister's wedding. And yet again she'd hacked it to pieces. Not enough to just say no, but she had to tell him she was leaving with Bryce of all people, Chuck's big sore spot. From Chuck's perspective, offering to run away together wasn't as big a romantic gesture as she'd thought anymore due to the simple old axiom, 'been there, done that'. Instead he'd figured she had big feelings for Bryce because she'd been planning to leave with him but was willing to sacrifice her own happiness for a friend in trouble. And if there was one thing Sarah Walker knew about Chuck Bartowski, it was that he would never let her sacrifice so much as a nail if he could prevent it, even if he had to donate a kidney for her to keep said nail.

So here she was, five weeks later, back with the partner she thought she might have loved at one point before one adorable nerd had spent two years repeatedly smacking her in the face with what that word truly meant. She had to deal with that partner trying repeatedly to get her back into bed when she had absolutely zero interest in going anywhere near his bed. She had to spend her days with him, eat with him, talk with him, work with him, and the whole time try to find enough meaning in it all to keep going when all of the meaning in her life was currently off in Prague getting the humanity beaten out of him because she had never been able to give him a clear enough sign that she was willing to accept the momentous gift that was Chuck Bartowski's heart.

It had taken her less than a week to realize there was no more meaning to be had for her in what used to be her whole life. She had resolved then and there that she was going to call in every single favor she had stored up in her ten years of top work with the CIA to get back to him when he was done. She was going to dig out her Chuck from under the heaps and mounds of dirt that were being poured on top of his soul right now. Because she wasn't going to lose him to this world that had taken everything else. She wasn't.

Sarah mustered up as much will as she could and dragged herself back out of bed. Were it not for the fact that she had one of Chuck's T-shirts she had swiped to sleep in, she wouldn't have bothered to shower and change before crying herself to sleep for the thirty-fifth consecutive night.

**Kind of a filler, I know, but an important one nonetheless. Keep in mind that this is Sarah's POV by the way, that doesn't mean I am Sarah-hating here. She does like to take emotional blame on herself. Please read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I love you guys and your reviews! Thanks so much, please keep them coming! This should be the last filler chapter before we get into the main body of the story.**

Chuck stumbled back into his room, his muscles screaming out in pure agony from the day's activities. The past six weeks of spy training had involved a level of physical exertion he'd never put in, and his body, while improving, had not yet managed to adjust completely. He'd thought he might start feeling better after he'd finally managed to return all of the equipment he had 'borrowed' to get Rommie out of his head, thus allowing him to cut down on the tense need to keep his guard up at all times, but it had been four days since he'd put the last device back and his tension was, if anything, increasing. Although he couldn't say he didn't know why, he reflected ruefully as he stumbled into the bathroom.

As soon as the door was shut an unusually modulated but still clearly mechanical voice broke out from the cabinet under the sink where he had hidden the wrist device in a toiletry bag.

"So, still no luck, huh?"

Chuck gave a deep sigh as he sat his aching body down on the closed lid of the toilet and put his head in his hand. He almost regretted not taking Rommie up on his offer to loop the cameras in the bedroom rather than the bathroom so he could lay down while they talked, but his rational side knew it was a lot easier to notice that kind of thing on visual than on a monitor which only had audio, and while he didn't doubt Rommie's ability to pull it off, it simply wasn't worth the risk.

"Nope. Still can't flash. I don't understand what's wrong with me. You told me the problems I was having were because your presence was interfering with the 2.0, but it's been a week since we got you out and I still can't flash!"

"Yeah, I know. I looked in on your training session today."

Chuck sat up in surprise. "I thought you were still circulating through cyberspace to spread your raw data out and keep from overloading the wrist device."

"I am, but I used the facility's data network instead of the wrist device's functions to get into the security cameras."

"Are you out of your mind!? They could see you!"

"Chuck, you know very well that even if they had the skills to spot a living computer program that doesn't want to be found, there's no outgoing data for them to notice. I'm not transmitting anything, just absorbing it for myself."

Chuck slumped back rubbing his eyes, argued into submission. "Right. Sorry. I'm a little out of it."

"I'm sure. Adams was pretty brutal on you today." Agent Adams (Chuck's impression of the man left him unable to be surprised if his first name actually was agent) was Chuck's physical trainer. Basically his job was to beat the heck out of Chuck on a daily basis. At least that's how it appeared. Chuck had more than once wondered idly how jealous Casey would be of the man if he knew of him.

"Yeah, he seems to be getting fed up with me. I don't think I'm going to last not flashing much longer before they decide to pull the plug on the training."

"Well, I may have some good news on that. I may have an idea why you're not flashing."

Chuck sat up straight and winced at the pain the movement shot through his body, but the hope coursing through his veins at the pronouncement was too strong to care just then.

"Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?"

"Alright alright, calm down. Adams has been taking you through meditation exercises to try and get you to flash, right?"

"Yeah, it's all about helping me force down my emotions to keep them from interfering with the Intersect. You think the meditation isn't enough?"

"No, I think the man is a spy who is used to thinking the way spies are taught to and isn't aware of the fact that the way spies are taught is moronic."

Chuck snorted at the comment before clearing his throat and replying. "Care to explain that one?"

"Spies are taught to think of emotions as weakness. They're trained to put them aside, to basically work around their presence entirely. This is an "ok" method for using the new Intersect, but it's not the best, and it's ten times worse for you."

"Why?"

"All of the other new Intersects had the spy training on restraining their emotions already. They can use it to access their Intersects. But quite frankly they're lucky this works consistently; well, luck plus years of training. Trying to train you for that from scratch now is a colossal waste of time, and unlikely to be effective anyway. You're not the kind of person to function on a lack of emotion. In fact, just the opposite. You rely on your emotions as part of your thought-process. And this, I think is the crux of the problem."

"I don't follow."

"The original Intersect based its activation on visual and auditory cues. You'd see or hear something and that would cause you to flash. This new one is far more reliant on your intentions. But you determine much of your intentions based on your emotions, and the Intersect is still a computer, used to instructions with a binary choice, do this or don't do it. By attempting to block out your emotions, you are creating a paradox the Intersect can't deal with. It is, for want of a better term, getting dizzy because it can't determine if you want it to obey what you're feeling or not."

Chuck sat in contemplative silence for several moments before speaking again.

"So what do I do about it?"

"When he tells you to push down your emotions, just nod your head like a good little doggie while you completely ignore him. Use your emotions the way you normally do to help you determine what you want to happen and the Intersect will simply determine if it needs to kick in to help or not."

"And then I'll be able to flash?"

"Well, you're still going to need some practice to get used to the new flashing, but from what I saw of the new 2.0 whilst I shared your mind with it, I strongly suspect it will make all the difference."

Chuck sat thinking over what he had been told for a moment longer before smiling warmly.

"Thank you, Rommie. I don't know what I would've done if you weren't here."

"Probably learn a little of the control they're trying to teach you and then go walking around with an Intersect that was stuttering while you tried desperately to control your emotions. Until at some point something would happen to get you so emotional that the Intersect would essentially conk out until you started opening yourself up to them again."

"Delightful thought. Well, I better get some sleep if I want to have any chance of getting up for my morning run."

"Shower first. It'll help your muscles."

"Yes, Mom."

"I really need to find a virtual tongue to stick out at you or recruit someone to slap you upside the head when you make comments like that."

Chuck huffed in amusement as he stood up and began to get ready for the shower.

* * *

Sarah paced her room like a caged tiger (albeit a caged tiger wearing pajamas), occasionally shooting glares at her phone in accusation for its lack of a new message. The blond agent knew she ought to get some sleep for the mission tomorrow, but it was afternoon in Burbank and Chuck would be getting home today. She knew there was no way she'd be able to close her eyes until she got the message she was waiting for about how he was doing.

G-D, how she missed him. Her heart ached at his absence. All of the tiny things each day that would have been different with his presence pierced her like one of her blades. Last night while she and Bryce had been staking out their target he'd ordered them a vegetarian pizza. The olives on top had almost had her crying. During Beckman's mission briefing she had counted half a dozen times where she could almost hear Chuck's voice piping in with some adorably nerdy comment that would've had the general glaring at him. She wanted so badly to see him. So very badly.

Her pacing ruminations were interrupted at long last by the chime of her phone. She sprang for the nightstand and had the message open in half a second.

'_He's back. He's not dead.'_

Sarah snorted as she read the message. From anyone else this would've had her howling in frustration, given the lack of information. But in this case, there was enough contained in that message to assuage her fear a little. She quickly wrote a short return message as she got into bed, even though she wondered idly (maybe even a little hopefully) how the recipient would react to her phraseology.

'_Thanks for the heads up, partner.'_

Her mind a bit more at ease given the expert evaluation of his condition, Sarah fell into a better sleep than she'd gotten in the last three months. Despite the intended recipient receiving and seeing the message almost immediately, it was several minutes later after she'd already drifted off that her phone chimed with the message that would put a smile on her face the next morning.

'_Anytime.'_

* * *

For the first time in three months, Chuck walked into Castle. He'd stopped off briefly at Ellie's to drop off his luggage, but as neither she nor Awesome had been home there had been no reason to linger, so he'd decided to come straight here.

The last five weeks of his training had passed in stark contrast to the seven beforehand. With Rommie's advice on the way to handle the new Intersect, Chuck had come to training the next day and flash-beaten Agent Adams into the mat. It had been a little dicey from time to time over the first week as he learned to regulate the Intersect properly, but as time went on and he'd been able to practice he'd gotten more and more in tune with the 2.0. At this point he could basically call on the programmable skills on command, something General Beckman had been quite pleased with. Well; she had looked at him and hadn't been glaring, so he assumed she was quite pleased.

As he walked in he spotted a familiar burly figure rising out of his seat at the main table, and he couldn't help the grin that split his face.

"Casey!" He shouted happily.

"Moron." Casey returned with a nod.

"Did you miss me?"

"Like a bullet in the gut."

"Knowing you I gotta ask, is that a good thing or not?"

Chuck swore he saw the smallest smirk appear on Casey's face, but it was gone before he could really be sure. The big man turned back to the paperwork on the table, but didn't sit down, giving the impression that he was finishing up, leaving Chuck to bring up a far less pleasant topic.

"So… the team?"

Casey turned his head back toward Chuck slightly, letting Chuck get a glimpse of an eyebrow raised as if to say, _'yes….?'_ But he never actually took his eyes off his paperwork.

Chuck huffed and then sighed. "Alright, Casey you're going to make me ask, I'll ask. What's happening with the team?"

Casey put his pen down after a final flourish and turned back to the still-speaking Chuck, folding his arms over his chest.

"I mean, you're still here, Castle is obviously still up and running. The CIA and NSA are being restructured to bring in agents vetted by the Intersect to form teams around the dozen or so new Intersects. Well, I'm one of them. What's going on? Who's the team?"

"Well, the higher ups decided to keep it small until they've decided if your screw-ups are going to be minimal enough to warrant keeping this team around. As of now, it's just you, me and a CIA skirt."

"C-CIA s-skirt?" Chuck stuttered out, his heart suddenly in his throat as he took in Casey's words. Yet again Chuck was sure for the barest moment that he saw a visible reaction from Casey, this time a wince, before he responded, but there was just no way to tell for certain."

"No, a different skirt."

Chuck's heart plummeted back through his chest and kept on going down to his feet.

"Gotta tell you though," Casey went on, picking up a file from the table and handing it off to Chuck, "looking at her and Walker you wonder how bad guys don't just spot these CIA anytime they so much as catch a glimpse from behind."

Chuck opened the file and took a look. His eyes rolled up into his head as a flash overtook him. Once he came out of it he exclaimed out the first thing that had struck him from the data he'd seen.

"She worked with Sarah!"

"Yeah, and that's the only reason I haven't shot the little yapper yet, she's almost as annoying as you."

Chuck covered up the pain in his heart at the multiple reminders of the love of his life with a snicker and quick retort.

"Well then, at least the two of us will have something to bond over; maybe even practice together."

Casey's answering growl was interrupted by a voice cutting in from behind him.

"I'm hoping that's not the only thing you and I have to bond over Agent Carmichael."

Chuck turned to see a woman emerging from the door leading deeper into Castle. It was simple at first glance to see what Casey had meant with his earlier comment. The similarities to Sarah were striking. Blond hair, almost as tall, built to appeal to the average man (although Chuck had to admit, the appeal to him was… muted at best). Chuck gave his trademark grin and reached out to meet her outstretched hand.

"Likewise, Agent Cowell."

"So I hear you worked with Sarah too?"

Hearing her name left another dizzying degree of emotions flooding Chuck's being, so he did his best to change the subject without being obvious about it.

"Yeah, just like you. And who came up with a name like the CAT squad anyway? Oh! I'm sorry, where are my manners. Please, call me Chuck."

"Yeah we talked about hunting that guy down but we never got around to it. And you can call me Amy."

**I'll bribe you for reviews!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the long wait. RL interfered with writing opportunities a bit. Hope not to make you wait this long again, but I wouldn't count on it never happening.**

**As sad as it is to admit, I don't own Chuck**

As Chuck strode up to the hospital carrying a picnic basket, he reflected on what he was about to do. It had been two weeks since he had returned from spy camp. With Ellie and Devon spending so much of their free time working on moving into their new apartment, and Chuck being swamped with a couple of minor missions, he hadn't had any time to have the conversation with Ellie that he had promised Rommie.

Admittedly, this was not one of the biggest disappointments of his life.

Chuck was very much not looking forward to this. He was finally going to reveal to Ellie that he'd been lying to her for two years, and while he'd dreamed of telling her the truth for all of that time, he still cringed every time he thought of the reaction of the woman who had pretty much raised him.

Chuck stood in front of the door of the hospital for several minutes waiting. He was not surprised; in fact he had expected it. Every time Chuck had ever visited Ellie at work, even with advance notice, she had gotten delayed. The life of a doctor. It had never really bothered him, but this time it left him more time to stew in his own worries, and he was really starting to fidget. Finally, after ten minutes that felt like an hour each (he'd looked at his watch after each one), Ellie came through the door.

"Hey, Chuck!" his sister greeted him with a hug and a kiss.

"Hey, sis. Where's Awesome?" Chuck replied, looking behind his sister.

"He got swamped. He had a high priority emergency surgery and apparently the guy was some big shot, so he needs to talk to the press." Oh, not good. He had been hoping that having her husband here to help keep her calm would help his life expectancy since Devon was already in the know. Without him Chuck felt like a sitting duck. Apparently his reaction was visible too.

"Chuck? You okay?" Ellie asked him as the two walked over to a secluded bench behind the hospital.

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

Ellie raised an eyebrow in disbelief but said nothing as they sat down. The two siblings shared an enjoyable meal of sushi and light conversation before Ellie decided to take the bull by the horns.

"Alright Chuck, what's wrong?"

"Wrong? What makes you think something's wrong, El?" He cringed at the false note in his voice. If those were the skills he had in the field he might as well shoot himself in the head right now.

"Charles." Ellie just said his name in that way, telling Chuck that she wasn't buying it and he might as well quit now.

"Ok." Chuck lifted both of his hands and rubbed them over his eyes before looking at her again. "El, there's something I need to tell you, and I cannot describe how hard it's going to be for me. So I need you to save what you're thinking for later, because once I stop I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to start again."

Ellie was quite clearly getting a little freaked out by the way Chuck was talking, but she took a deep, fortifying breath and nodded at her brother to continue.

"Well, it all started with my twenty-sixth birthday. I got an email from Bryce Larkin…."

For the next half an hour Chuck spoke, telling Ellie all about the Intersect, how the government had hijacked his life, and all of the pain and heartache that they'd brought with them. The expression on her face ran the entire emotional spectrum, from outrage to thrill, from groans to laughter. By the end she was nearly speechless.

"Two years? This has been going on under my nose for two years?"

"I'm so sorry, Ellie. I wanted to tell you so many times-"

Ellie stretched over and laid a hand on Chuck's. "I know, Chuck. I could see so many times when you looked at me, you had this desperate, forlorn look on your face. I thought it was my trying to make you face being stuck in the rut at the Buy More, but it was this, wasn't it."

Chuck nodded solemnly.

"And Sarah- she really left with Bryce Larkin of all people?"

Chuck winced and nodded.

Ellie moved from her own seat over to Chuck and engulfed him in a bear hug. "I'm so sorry, Chuck. All those times I went on about the problems the two of you had… I know you loved her so much. I really thought she did too."

Chuck smiled sadly. "Sarah doesn't have many friends, so she cares for the ones she does have fiercely, deeply. I think she does love me, in that way, but not the way I do her. I'd like to think if I'd gotten a chance with her without Bryce in the way…."

Ellie pushed off of him and grabbed his face in both hands, staring right into his eyes.

"You are a better catch than Bryce Larkin, Charles Irving Bartowski. And if Sarah Walker couldn't see that, than she's a fool."

"No, El," Chuck replied, shaking his head. "Sarah is no fool. She was willing to give up everything for me even though she just saw me as a friend. I have to be grateful for that, right?"

His sister just smiled sadly at him. "You still really love her, don't you?"

He sighed. "I think I always will. I always thought the idea of saying a piece of my heart will always belong to her, even if I eventually get over her, was just something they used to make the movies sound romantic. Now I finally get it. I just wish it made the pain go away. Right now the idea that I'll ever get over her seems insane. With Jill it wasn't just losing her, it was losing her on the cusp of everything else, all of the work of my life being destroyed by my best friend. This is just the girl and it still hurts so much worse El. So, so much."

Chuck's voice was breaking at the end as he struggled against the tears. Ellie's lips twitched against her own tears at the state her brother was in.

"I'm so sorry, Chuck. For all of what this world of spying has done to you-"

"Charles." A throaty voice whispered from behind the two siblings. They spun to see their father standing there, his expression horrified. "What have you done, Charles?"

"Dad-"

"No! How could you? How could you drag your sister into this mess?!"

Ellie opened her mouth for a sharp retort before Chuck placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Dad, I needed to tell Ellie the truth. For a bunch of reasons. But I asked you here because I need to tell you the truth too."

Steven looked shocked at the statement. What truth was he not aware of?

"Please, Dad. Take a seat."

Once the three Bartowskis were seated Chuck took a deep breath and launched into his tale.

"El, everything I've told you up to now is classified. State secrets. As in lock you up and throw away the key. What I'm about to tell you is worse."

Both members of Chuck's family started at the bald statement.

"Worse how, Charles?"

"Because Dad, what I'm about to tell you is something the government doesn't even know. El, you remember how I told you that during the takedown of Fulcrum, Dad managed to get the Intersect out of my brain?"

Ellie nodded while their father looked on questioningly.

"Well, that wasn't quite true."

Both sets of eyes watching him widened dramatically. Chuck proceeded to tell them about waking up in his room on the day of the wedding to meet Rommie. When he finished, his sister began shaking her head.

"Chuck- please tell me you have some way to convince me not to take you in for a psych eval at this point, although I'm not sure if I'd prefer if this was a delusion or not."

"Charles, you have to admit, this is a bit farfetched. I can't imagine any way the Intersect could behave the way you're saying, and now to believe you have an independent entity in your brain?"

Chuck smiled grimly. "Believe me guys, I wish I had just made this whole thing up. But the thing is, I can prove it." That drew interested, questioning looks at Chuck as he pulled out his phone. "With Rommie's help, I was able to set up a way to get him out of my head, and now- well, say hi, Rommie."

"_Hello Eleanor, Mr. Bartowski. It's an honor to finally speak to you directly." _Came the electronic voice out of his phone.

"Chuck- is that…."

Chuck nodded. "The intelligence which grew in my brain out of the Intersect, otherwise known as Rommie."

His family stared at him, open-mouthed, their eyes making it clear just how far this revelation had sent them reeling. Several moments passed, before Ellie finally managed to speak up, her voice shaky.

"Uh-h-hi, Rommie. It's nice to, um, meet you."

"_You too, Eleanor. You should know just how deeply Chuck loves and respects you. You are one of the first people he goes to when he looks for a template on how to react to a given situation."_

Chuck blushed heavily while Ellie looked touched.

"_And Mr. Bartowski. I must say, it is odd not to call you dad. Not only was it the way you were referred to in Chuck's mind, but in some ways it applies to me as well. You are, after all, the one who created the initial program that resulted in me."_

Steven Bartowski just continued staring at the phone generating the voice, too shell-shocked to speak.

"_I understand this must come as a great shock to both of you, but please understand. I mean you no harm. I persuaded Chuck to speak to Eleanor because I believe we need help from both of you. Chuck's brain is very complex, and the effects of the Intersect are unpredictable. I want to be certain there is no physiological downside to it's presence."_

"Thank you, Rommie!" Ellie perked up, looking just a little bit smug.

"Oh great, now I'm going to have both of you going all mother hen on me. I knew this was a bad idea."

"_Tough."_

Ellie chuckled while Chuck rolled his eyes. Steven was still in shock.

"Dad?"

The eldest Bartowski seemed to snap out of his trance a little at his son's voice. "I'm okay, Charles. It's just- I created the Intersect as a teaching tool. It was perverted by the government into a weapon, and now it's given birth to a life. It's running back and forth across the spectrum of right and wrong so fast I'm getting a little dizzy.

"_Then- you think my creation was on the side of right?" _For the first time Chuck could remember, Rommie's voice sounded tentative, unsure even in the electronic tone he had adopted. Steven gave a gentle smile as he seemed to consider his answer.

"I think the creation of life is one of the greatest abilities humankind was bestowed with. Even if it wasn't the normal way, you are still a life, and whether your creation was intended or not I could never bring myself to regret it."

There was a long pause before a simple reply.

"_Thank you."_

Somehow it seemed to everyone there that there was a great deal encompassed in those two words. As though sensing a need to change the mood of the discussion Ellie spoke up.

"So what exactly is it you need from us, Rommie?"

"_I need an experienced and trustworthy neurologist to examine Chuck, make sure the Intersect is not causing any undue strain. The neurons in his brain have been firing in ways they were never designed to, and I am worried about what it might do to Chuck in the long run-"_

Rommie's answer was interrupted by a beep from the cell phone generating his voice. Chuck grabbed it and checked the screen.

"Beckman has a briefing for us. I need to go." Chuck stated as he read the message and rose from the table. Before he could take two steps, he felt a firm hand clasp his arm.

"Chuck."

"Yeah, Ellie."

Chuck had never seen his sister so hesitant.

"I understand what this is, what it means, and that right now you don't have a choice in the matter. Just- please be careful?"

Chuck gave his worried sister a smile, not his usual full-blown grin, but a smile which held so many of the pent up feelings he had released just now, good and bad.

"I promise."

* * *

Chuck strode into Castle to find Casey and Amy already present and waiting on Beckman. Chuck sent a silent thanks to Casey for taking the seat at the end of the table, allowing him to sit opposite Amy rather than next to her. The blond agent had been consistently hitting on Chuck for the past two weeks and it was grating on Chuck's nerves something fierce. He was nowhere near ready to start getting over Sarah, especially not with someone who looked so remarkably similar to her. Yet despite all of his attempts to explain that to her, she continued flirting with him aggressively. It was making Chuck more than a little uncomfortable.

Just as Chuck took his seat, the screen lit up with the perpetually scowling visage of General Beckman.

"Good afternoon, team." Beckman pressed a button on her keyboard, bringing up an image of a middle-aged man in a foreign military man. Chuck heard a grunt of annoyed recognition from Casey.

"This is Premier Alejandro Goya, the military ruler of Costa Gravas. He arrived in California three days ago. Yesterday he was hospitalized for a cardiac incident. He has been treated and is expected to make a full recovery. However, we have reason to believe this may not have been a simple health incident, rather an attempt on the Premier's life."

Casey grunted in amusement. "Let me guess. You want us to finish the job, General?"

Chuck's surprised look was matched by Casey's at the General's response. "Not this time, Colonel. In fact, I want you to protect him."

"Ma'am?" Casey grunted in apparent confusion.

"Um, I take it you and this guy are old not-so-much friends, Casey?" Chuck voiced his confusion to the big man, although it was Beckman who ended up answering it.

"Premier Goya is one on a very short list of people Colonel Casey has been assigned a termination order against who are still alive. In fact, if memory serves, it was three separate termination orders," Beckman explained, an uncharacteristic hint of exasperated amusement in her voice.

"Stubborn Commie bastard just refused to die, General. I almost had him. But why the hell would we want to protect him now?"

"Goya is here in the US to announce the opening of democratic elections in his country-"

Casey snorted, earning him the glare from Beckman for once.

"If he were to die, having been assassinated on this particular mission and on US soil, it would set the progressive party in Costa Gravas back decades, if not destroy it altogether. That cannot happen. Understood?"

The team nodded swiftly.

"General," Amy spoke up for the first time, "how do you want us to proceed with protecting the Premier, particularly considering that it's unlikely he'll be thrilled to see Colonel Casey?"

"Your first step is to determine if this actually was an attempt on the Premier's life. To that end, you'll need to question the doctor who saved him. Fortunately, getting him to talk shouldn't be a problem," the general noted, hitting another button pulling up a video of a press conference with a man in scrubs that Chuck recognized instantly answering questions being thrown at him as cameras flashed behind the image.

"NO!" Chuck shouted. "No way, General. We are not bringing Awesome into this. I'm not mixing him up in one of our missions-"

"The matter, Agent Bartowski," The general gritted out, her anger quite visible, "is not open for debate. You will question Dr. Woodcomb about the Premier's health crisis. End of discussion."

The general stabbed at her keyboard, severing the link and ending any further debate.

Chuck stared at the blank monitor, doing his utmost to convince himself that if he lunged forward he'd smash into a blank screen and not a red-headed pain in his rear….

When he finally had a handle on his anger he turned to regard his partners, looking for some kind of support. What he found was a sympathetic smile that was just a little too wide from Amy and an only slightly less steely than usual glare from Casey. G-D he missed Sarah….

* * *

Sarah sat alone in the passenger seat of a CIA-issue Toyota with a pair of binoculars in her hands, keeping her eyes peeled to the ring agent she and Bryce had been shadowing for several days. She hoped desperately that he would make some kind, any kind of move. Anything that would keep her mind off the fact that she was in California, so very close to Chuck, and unable to see him.

Sarah had been working steadily for the past two weeks on building a case to take to her superiors on getting reassigned back to Burbank, but as she and Bryce had been having a fairly steady success record, and Beckman had always been uncomfortable at best about how close Sarah and Chuck had been, she was having a tough time putting her arguments together.

One thing she did know, she needed to do something soon. The tears were coming less and less readily.

About a week after Chuck had left for spy training, a week of crying herself to sleep, Sarah had found the tears would not come. The memories got fuzzier, duller. The pain was getting number, farther from the surface. Sarah was horrified. She had failed Chuck; she had let him get swept back into the spy business, she'd let him go off believing she didn't care for him, that she chose _Bryce_ of all people over him, and now she was starting to forget? To feel better? What right did she have to not feel the pain?

And so Sarah had gotten out the pictures of Chuck she had hidden in her suitcase, as well as the T-shirt she'd swiped from his closet that still smelled faintly of him, sat down on her bed for an hour before going to sleep, and remembered. She would think of her lovable nerd, her Chuck. Everything he had done for her, risking his life time and time again despite getting admonished against it. His goofy grin, the way he looked at her as though she was everything good in the world, the way he constantly wanted to care for her. And the pain would come rushing back, and she would cry herself to sleep once more.

As the months dragged on she would perform this ritual whenever she'd find herself starting to feel better. During the day she would be Agent Walker, the consummate professional; late at night, alone in her room, she was just Sarah, the woman who had failed the man she loved and didn't know how to make it better. But she had started to become alarmed in recent weeks as she had noticed the need for the ritual becoming more frequent. She hated the idea that the wound might be scabbing over, that it might be less painful to her in any way.

It felt like another betrayal of Chuck.

Sarah was snapped from her thoughts as the car door opened and Bryce got in, the excited look on his face telling her his reconnaissance had paid off.

"I managed to get a look at the card Artman received from his contact before he went inside. It's a high level Costa Gravan military ID." Bryce said without preamble.

Sarah looked over at the building their mark had entered. "That explains how he got into the embassy so easily, but why would a Ring assassin want to get inside the Costa Gravan embassy?"

"Correction," Bryce said with the grin that always said he had figured something out in advance, holding out his hand. Sarah looked down, seeing an entry pass for a party being held at the Costa Gravan embassy that evening, "why would he want to get in today?"

"He's been sent to assassinate someone at the party." Sarah stated, not having the patience she used to have for the contest of one-upsmanship spies frequently took part in.

"Yup. Which is why we have to get in after him." Bryce returned his smirk deepening.

Narrowing her eyes, Sarah stared him down. "Since there is no way you could've called the boss and gotten the work done this fast, do I want to know how you got this entry pass?"

Bryce's grin just got wider. "I'm the Intersect," he stated as if that should be answer enough.

Sarah rolled her eyes. She was really starting to get fed up with Bryce's newfound cockiness at his new abilities. She understood that it must be exciting, but Bryce had always been a good agent, and his bluster had never gotten anywhere near as out of control as it was now. If Bryce noticed her annoyance, it didn't impact his attitude.

"Up for a party, Mrs. Anderson?"

* * *

Chuck stood in front of a mirror, straightening his bowtie in frustration. He could never get the thing to stay on quite right. Sarah had always-

Okay, SO not the thought he needed right now. He was deeply frustrated as it was, he didn't need more melancholy thrown into the mix.

Awesome had been way too eager to help Chuck when he had asked his brother in-law about the condition of Premier Goya. Now thanks to the gratitude of the Premier towards the man who had saved his life Devon and Ellie were going to be present while Chuck and Amy were on a mission. And their mission was to deal with an assassin- not something Chuck wanted his family anywhere near.

As if that weren't bad enough, Casey wouldn't be able to come in on this one. His history with the Costa Gravans and with the Premier in particular meant that his presence would only exacerbate the situation, leaving Chuck stuck protecting his family and the leader of a nation with a partner he wasn't quite willing to trust yet.

It wasn't that he had anything against Amy per se, but he hadn't had the time to get used to her yet, not to mention that her overt flirting was starting to get on his nerves. Her uncanny resemblance to Sarah both physically and in some ways professionally didn't help the situation either.

The one thing he could be thankful for was that although his partners didn't know it, he wouldn't have to worry about Ellie finding out about his spy identity. If he'd had that worry on top of everything else he might have lost it.

He was snapped out of his reverie by the knock on the door announcing the arrival of his partner. Coming out of his room, he saw Devon opening the door to the sight of Amy looking resplendent in a beautiful silver dress.

"Hey, Chuck," Amy greeted with a small seductive edge to her voice. Chuck hid a wince.

"Hey, Amy. You look great."

Amy raised an eyebrow flirtatiously, her eyes inviting Chuck to look down. "You think so?"

His sister, bless her soul, chose that moment to come out of her room, saving Chuck the need to think of a way to answer.

Devon gave a quiet whistle when he saw Ellie. "Hey, babe. You look awesome!"

Ellie gave her husband a wide grin and a peck on the lips before turning to her brother.

"You ready to go, Chuck?"

Chuck fought the urge to sigh with everything he had. "As ready as I'll ever be."

**Please Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chuck circulated throughout the party, a half-full glass of champagne clutched in his right hand as he swept his eyes over the elegant ballroom. He hadn't had the chance to meet the Premier yet, as the man had been busy when the Woodcomb party had arrived, but Chuck knew it was only a matter of time given the slightly creepy expression of immense gratitude the Premier had directed at his brother in-law that morning. At the moment Devon was out on the dance floor with Ellie, hopefully keeping both of them out of harm's way. Meanwhile on the spy side of things, Amy was circulating amongst the party while Chuck stood at the table staring around the room hoping for a flash.

He had felt distinctly uncomfortable walking into the party with Amy on his arm. The veteran agent had used the necessity of acting like a happy couple to full advantage, getting _way_ too close for Chuck's comfort.

Chuck was broken from his searching by a voice sounding in his earpiece.

"_Bartowski, Our hack of the front door security got a hit. I'm sending the picture to your phone."_ Came Casey's voice from the surveillance van.

Chuck took out his Iphone and shot it a quick glance, seeing the picture of a tuxedo-clad dour Middle-Eastern man with scruffy black hair and beard liberally streaked with white.

"Looks like a charmer. Who is he?"

"_Name's Pablo Al-Arkohn. Freedom fighter. Spent twenty years in a Costa Gravan prison for trying to overthrow the Communist Party. Came into the US on a fake passport."_

"Sounds like a good bet. Amy?"

The answer came from Casey instead. _"Her mic's off, she warned she was in close to someone and was going radio silent."_

"Great." Chuck muttered as he scanned the room for either the visage he'd seen in the picture or his blonde partner, doing his best to keep the urgency off his face. Two minutes of furious eye-wandering finally hit paydirt.

"Got eyes on him, Casey. He's on the east side, moving slowly in the direction of the dance floor."

"_Can you stop him without drawing suspicion?"_

Chuck furrowed his brow as he looked around the room for any kind of option, finally settling on an idea when he saw the position of the assassin relative to the Premier. A quick flash later and he was almost ready, just missing one thing. Something he wasn't really eager to use for his purpose, but what choice did he have.

"Casey, I have an idea, but I need Amy's help. Any sign of her?"

"_I've been trying to reach her, comm's must still be off."_

Chuck gritted his teeth as he searched the ballroom furiously for his partner. Finally he caught sight of a silver dress attached to a blond haired body with its back to him about 20 feet from his position.

"Got her. Hang on."

Chuck swiftly weaved his way through the crowd, trying to get to his partner as fast as he could without looking suspicious. As he got closer, he started getting angry. Casey said Amy had turned off her comm because she was too close to someone, but she wasn't even talking to anyone!

Resolving to have it out with her later, Chuck latched on to her arm from behind and yanked her away, spinning them both onto the dance floor while keeping his gaze locked onto Al-Arkohn on the other side of the floor.

"We may have our guy. Follow my lead." Chuck murmured as he observed their suspect, who was still moving slowly but surely toward the Premier. He registered a complete slackening of Amy's grip on his arm and started getting really upset.

"Amy, what the heck's the matter with you?" Chuck breathed, turning towards his partner. "We have a…" The words got caught in his throat as he became trapped in a pair of blue jewels that had had him mesmerized from the first moment he had seen them. Chuck blinked and shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Nope. Still there.

"Chuck?"

"S-Sarah?"

* * *

Sarah stood in place with a sigh, waiting for Bryce to come back from following Artman into the men's room. True to his word, the tickets Bryce had acquired had been sufficient to get them into the embassy. Sarah was a bit uneasy about not having been able to reach Beckman in time to let her know they were going in, but as it was the difference it made to the operation should be minimal. Either way, if they were caught undertaking an action on the foreign soil of the Costa Gravan embassy Beckman would do everything in her power to convince people she'd never even heard of Sarah Walker and Bryce Larkin. Such was the nature of the espionage business.

Sarah held in a wistful sigh as she saw all of the couples who were attending the party together. Just a few months ago she would've been here desperately trying to keep herself from getting fooled along with the partygoers about her relationship to the man with her. Now she had to call upon all of her training to convince those around her that she wanted to be there with the man on her arm and not anywhere else.

Sarah was snapped out of her thoughts as a hand grasped her arm and yanked gently but firmly, twirling her into the person's arms.

'_Intersect or not, I am going to kill Bryce this time.'_ Sarah thought to herself angrily as she looked up, ready to tear her partner a new one. But as she saw his face, her angry words fell right down her throat, grabbing her heart on the way down to her feet.

"We may have our guy. Follow my lead," Chuck spoke to her softly, still not looking at her. A small detached corner of her mind wondered what he was talking about, but most of her was far too stunned to register anything but his soft voice whispering into her ear, and his strong but gentle arms around her body. Finally, she started to come back to herself slightly as she could feel the tension in his arms as he seemed to get frustrated.

"Amy, what the heck's the matter with you?" Chuck demanded in a soft voice, stopping dead as he finally turned to her, his chocolate eyes widening almost comically as he took (or drank, she tried to stop herself from saying) her in, his shock snapping her out of the trance she'd been in, at least a little.

"Chuck?"

"S-Sarah?"

'_Those eyes should be classified as interrogation equipment', _Sarah thought to herself as a myriad of emotions filled the brown depths in front of her. There was shock, pain, and such tender longing that it almost brought Sarah to her knees, but before she could say anything a third voice sounded, one Sarah could barely hear, even with how close she was. She'd never realized just how good those earwigs were to the outside.

"_Sarah? As in Walker?"_ came the surprised voice of John Casey from Chuck's right ear.

"Are there any other Sarahs?" Chuck asked in a daze.

"_Only about a million, idiot. Now what the hell is Walker doing here, why didn't Beckman tell us, and worst of all, does that mean the tool is here too?"_

Chuck and Sarah shared a small smile at the words, their stunned reverie mostly broken by their old partner. Sarah put her mouth as close to Chuck's ear as she dared and started speaking softly, privately thrilled by the small shiver Chuck gave.

"Nice to hear your voice too, Casey."

"_Oh great. Now I'm gonna be up to my neck in lady feelings." _Sarah couldn't help but notice Casey's tone was not the one he used to express true malice or annoyance. _"Never mind, we'll deal with that later. Bartowski, Al-Arkohn's almost to Goya!"_

Chuck jumped from his in-depth examination of Sarah's face and turned around, searching the crowd for a moment before apparently finding whatever he was looking for.

"Sarah, we have an assassination attempt we were sent to stop without drawing attention. Follow my lead?" he asked the last bit in a small voice, as though he were both eager and afraid of her answer. She responded with her biggest grin.

"Anytime."

Chuck let out a blinding smile of his own before spinning Sarah around across the dance floor, joining her as they both fell into step with the music coming from the band. Sarah moved with Chuck, doing her best to keep in step even as her body struggled to not react to the sensations of Chuck's hands everywhere.

As he spun her, he surreptitiously managed to point out their target with a whispered word and a gesture of his shoulder. The man had an object clenched in his hand and was getting closer and closer to Premier Goya, who, Sarah was shocked to see, was just starting to dance with _Ellie_ of all people, but there would be time for that later. Right now they were closing in, and there was a twirl coming up in just a moment. Knowing exactly what each other wanted instinctively, Sarah added all of the force she could into Chuck's spin, the combined force of both of their strength ramming her body into their target without breaking stride pre-collision.

Sarah began to stumble, but of course Chuck was there to keep her steady, his warm arms leaving little of Sarah's attention for the ache in her shoulder. The target, Al-Arkohn, if she remembered Casey's words correctly, had no such hero. He fell back into a table, both man and furniture collapsing beneath his weight.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Sarah began her bumbling apology, playing the ignoramus to the tee with Chuck matching her blubber for blubber against the man's epithets. It was then that they noticed the small object come tumbling out of his hand.

Two of the Premier's security men hauled Al-Arkohn to his feet and out of the room, his shouted curses ringing in the air behind him. Chuck leaned in close and murmured as though talking to Sarah.

"Casey, unless Al-Arkohn filled that egg with poison, he wasn't the assassin," Chuck griped through his teeth.

"_Oh. Oops. Still funny to watch, though."_

Sarah and Chuck turned to each other and shared the joint affectionate eye-roll they had reserved for their gruff older partner, before being interrupted by a gravelly voice from behind them.

"I'm very sorry about that, I'm afraid that man was a bit of a troublemaker, well-known in my country." The two spies turned around to see Premier Alejandro Goya standing behind them, looking contrite. Of course that look changed as he took in Sarah, as most looks of men were wont to do.

"No harm done," Chuck responded with an affable smile.

The Premier's security forces were moving in all around them, attempting to secure their leader. Goya held up a hand to his security chief to make him wait a moment before turning back, taking Sarah's hand in his own and lifting it to brush a kiss across the back. At the same time, both Ellie and Devon were standing behind the Premier, looking at the blonde next to Chuck with wide eyes. Chuck just wiggled his brow in his best attempt to say 'go with it' without being noticed.

"May I ask what such a lovely lady is doing in my humble embassy?" asked the Premier in a low voice, almost ignoring Chuck's presence by her side.

Sarah played the role of simpering girlfriend to a scary tee. "Oh, I'm here with my boyfriend and his family," she replied in a classic airhead voice, giving a wave to Ellie and Devon, who waved back stiffly, still shocked by her sudden appearance.

The Generalissimo turned back to see who she was waving at, and did a double-take.

"You are here with Dr. Woodcomb?"

Chuck felt this was the appropriate moment to step in. "Hi, I'm Chuck, Devon's brother in-law," he said, holding out his hand. Goya shook his hand absently and turned back to Devon.

"Well, Doctor Devon Woodcomb, it seems I now owe you not only for saving my life, but also for bringing these two lovely ladies into my evening. I regret we must cut this short, but I will make this up to you, I promise," He finished with a flourish, just as his head of security was becoming increasingly insistent on getting him out of the room.

"Oh, you know, that's cool, you do what you have to do," Devon stammered out, still a little caught off guard by the change in Chuck's date.

With one more bow the Premier finally surrendered to his increasingly agitated security. Immediately Chuck and Sarah found themselves being accosted by not only Devon and Ellie, but the far less welcome returning figures of Amy and Bryce as well.

"Later," was all Chuck said as they were being ushered out of the embassy. Chuck knew they now had to explain this whole mess to Beckman, who was sure to be displeased. Yet despite Beckman's talent for spreading her own displeasure to those around her, Chuck couldn't bring himself to regret the outcome of the evening.

* * *

"Let me get this straight. Agents Walker and Larkin pursued their target into the Costa Gravan embassy without my knowledge. All four of the agents in the embassy became separated from one another. Agent Bartowski mistook Agent Walker for Agent Cowell and drew her into eliminating a threat which turned out to be nothing more than a political protester. And now we have lost the Ring agent we were tracking, who is probably the assassin headed for the Premier, at the same time that we've lost our security on the Premier as well!?"

The veteran agents in the room simply remained standing stiffly before the monitor in Castle as the general blew her top, but Chuck thought he might see a way to curb the general's ire. Not to mention the fact that knowing when to keep silent in front of the irascible redhead had never been his strong suit.

"Actually general, it might not be quite that bad yet." Casey growled at him softly while Bryce rolled his eyes and Amy put her palm to her forehead in exasperation. Sarah simply stood there, letting her face betray nothing as the general responded in a low voice promising danger.

"Oh really, Agent Bartowski. Just what about this situation isn't 'quite that bad yet?'"

Chuck gulped, not sure if he really wanted to go on, when he felt a small weight on his right foot. Given the positioning, it had to be Sarah's foot rubbing against his. His courage rising, he started to explain himself.

"Well, first off, given the fact that the protestor was able to get as close as he did, the Premier's security forces will be on high alert for the moment, meaning the assassin will likely not be able to strike right now. And we haven't lost our access to him, we only got kicked out along with all the other guests. But the Premier was explicit in his desire to see us again later on. Also, like you said, his presence in the embassy at the time of the threat on the Premier's life means he is most likely the assassin sent by the Ring. That means he will remain in the area. And if he can't strike just yet, we're now in a better position to stop him than we were before now that we know what he looks like."

Chuck held his breath, wondering if he had just consigned himself to the gallows. But the General's face on the screen, as well as Casey's on Chuck's left, actually started getting thoughtful. Of course, a certain someone just had to pick that moment to cut in.

"Uh, Chuck, hate to burst your bubble and all, but didn't you hear me say that when I followed Artman to the bathroom, I saw him come out wearing a Costa Gravan army uniform."

Sarah turned to shoot her partner a vicious glare, but fortunately Chuck headed him off.

"No, Bryce, I heard you just fine, but the Costa Gravans have locked down the Premier for a breach in security. No even moderately competent security force would let in anyone they didn't recognize on sight to be alone with the Premier. And if the Ring is hoping to destabilize Costa Gravas' relationship with the US, their best bet is to take out the Premier stealthily, leaving no clue as to who was responsible. If he dies while locked down in their own embassy, Artman won't be able to get away without being at least seen. And if he's killed by an assassin in one of their own uniforms, the Costa Gravans will assume he was killed by his political rivals, making him into a martyr. Exactly what the Ring doesn't want. I think we still have a shot here, General."

The General looked at Chuck thoughtfully for a moment before inclining her head.

"Alright, Agent Bartowski, your point is well taken. We may still have a play at stopping the Ring. You'll work in your separate teams. Agents Walker and Larkin will monitor the embassy and attempt to pick up Artman's trail, while Team Bartowski continues trying to secure the Premier once the opportunity presents itself."

Chuck and Sarah both opened their mouths to object, without even thinking about what they were going to say first, but surprisingly Casey beat them to the punch.

"Actually, general that could be a problem. You see the Premier didn't meet Bartowski when he and Cowell entered the embassy, only later after he and Walker knocked out the protestor. The Premier seemed quite taken with Agent Walker, and would certainly notice if she and Cowell switched back. If we're going to have any kind of shot at getting in with the Premier, it'll have to be Walker in there with Bartowski."

Amy opened her mouth to protest, but the General cut her off. "Your point is well taken, Colonel. Very well then, for the duration of this operation I'm reassigning Agent Walker to work with Agents Bartowski and Casey to secure the Premier. Agents Larkin and Cowell will attempt to locate Artman. Let's try not to have any more mix-ups people. That is all."

Beckman reached forward and terminated the connection, leaving the five agents to quietly relax (Well, Chuck's sigh of relief could not be classified as quiet by any means, but the principle was still the same)

"Well, Agent Larkin, looks like we're going to be working together for the time being." Amy turned to Bryce with a simpering smile. Bryce gave his own charming grin. "Looking forward to it, Agent Cowell." Chuck found himself both relieved and a little confused by the exchange. Amy had been blatantly hitting on him since the two of them had first met. And just a moment ago she had seemed rather upset about switching with Sarah. Now she was busy throwing herself at Bryce? What was going on with her?

At the same time as this exchange was going on, Sarah glanced over at Casey. With the practiced familiarity that came with being partners for a long time, Sarah's eyes thanked him for having her back with Beckman and getting her reassigned to the team. And while nobody other than Sarah or Chuck would've believed it possible, Casey's own gaze responded, _'No problem. Glad you're back.'_ Of course he'd rather swallow his own tongue than say anything of the kind out loud, but the sentiment was still there.

As Amy and Bryce turned to leave, the two stopped by Sarah. Amy wrapped her arms around her fellow blonde agent first.

"It's great to see you again, Sarah! We'll have to catch up, go out for drinks, maybe hit a club once this is over!" Amy squealed in an eager pixie voice. Sarah gave a smile and a soft "sure", but Chuck couldn't help but notice that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. If Amy noticed the lack of enthusiasm she gave no sign.

Once Amy let go Bryce went up and leaned forward, his lips moving towards Sarah's. Instead of meeting her lips though, he let out a soft 'ow' as Sarah's palm shot out and bonked him on the nose, forcing him back. Far from being discouraged, Bryce simply gave Sarah his bedroom eyes and boyish grin before turning to lead Amy out of Castle.

The three ex-turned-not-so-ex partners now found themselves alone in the underground base that had once been theirs. Both Sarah and Chuck were nervously avoiding each other's gazes while at the same time trying to surreptitiously check if the other was looking at them. Casey just rolled his eyes.

"Oh great. Here we go again. I'm off to clean some guns before the air becomes too thick with lady feelings for me to breathe. Bartowski, make sure you let us know the second the Premier sends another invitation." With that, Casey turned and headed for the armory, leaving Sarah and Chuck alone for the first time in months.

Sarah gave a small smile at Casey's retreating back, making a mental note to get her grouchy yet ever-reliable partner a nice Bonsai tree or Reagan documentary. But for now she had other things to think about. She turned back to Chuck, opening her mouth only to hear the exact same words escape Chuck's lips in perfect synch with her own.

"Can we talk?"

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